CHAOS MARKS OPENING OF SARORE TOLL PLAZA IN JAMMU

JAMMU: The day one of Sarore toll plaza on the Jammu-Pathankot national highway on Friday not only saw long traffic jams but daily commuters being abused and thrashed by the overzealous staff.

With inadequate infrastructure and staff, NHAI inaugurated the toll plaza on Friday and the staff started collecting toll from the vehicles. However, within no time a long queue of vehicles was seen stranded on either lanes. It may be stated here that the narrow stretch has six counters, three each on either side. Commuters had a harrowing experience at the hands of the staff. A video has also gone viral where the staff was seen hurling abuses and thrashing a commuter, who refused to pay toll for being stuck in the jam for over two hours.

A bus driver was seen arguing with the staff asking them to first raise proper infrastructure before starting the toll plaza. Another truck driver said that the vehicles were left stranded in long traffic snarls from Vijaypur to Bari Brahmana. Expressing concern over the long queues of vehicles at the toll plaza resulting in jams on the NH from Satwari to Samba, Panthers Party chairman Harsh Dev Singh accused the ruling BJP of indulging in politics of deception and duplicity over toll issue. While in opposition it was the BJP leaders who vehemently opposed the plaza installation and dismantled the structure at the proposed site near Sarore citing it as ‘Jazia’ imposed upon people of Jammu, said Singh.